AT LEAST FIVE KILLED DOZENS WOUNDED IN SOUTHWEST PAKISTAN SCHOOL BUS BLAST

Wed 21 May 2025:

Three children were among five dead, while several others were injured when a bus carrying students was targeted in a blast in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district on Wednesday morning, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

Yasir Iqbal Dashti, a government official in Khuzdar, said at least 38 people were wounded in the attack on Wednesday.

“The school bus belonged to Army Public School as it was picking children in the morning when it was attacked by the suicide bomber,” he told Al Jazeera.

Pakistan’s military, in a statement, condemned the violence and accused “Indian terror proxies” of involvement in the attack. It did not share evidence to support the claim.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

“In yet another cowardly and ghastly attack planned and orchestrated by terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan, innocent school-going children’s bus was targeted today in Khuzdar,” a statement by the ISPR read.

“As per the initial reports, three innocent children and two adults have embraced martyrdom and multiple children have sustained injuries,” the press release added.

“After having miserably failed in the battlefield, through these most heinous and cowardly such like acts, Indian proxies have been unleashed to spread terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” the ISPR said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on the Khuzdar school bus, describing it as a cowardly act.

“The attack on innocent children in a school bus by terrorists working under Indian patronage is a clear proof of their hostility towards education in Balochistan,” he said in a statement.

Expressing deep sorrow over the death of the children, PM Shehbaz said that the terrorists have “crossed all limits of barbarity”, vowing to bring them to their end.

“The sympathies of the entire nation, including mine, are with the families of these innocent children, who were victims of the brutality of terrorists.”

He directed the security forces to bring the perpetrators to justice, and showed support for the armed forces’ resolve to eradicate terrorism from the country.

There was no immediate comment from New Delhi.

Balochistan province, which is rich in minerals and natural resources, has been home to a decades-long conflict between the government and ethnic Baloch separatists, who demand secession from Pakistan.

Wednesday’s attack came days after a car bombing killed four people near a market in Qillah Abdullah, also in Balochistan.

Many attacks in the province are claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which Pakistan says is backed by neighbouring India – a claim New Delhi denies.

In one of the deadliest attacks claimed by the BLA, its fighters killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, during an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan in March.

Earlier this week, the BLA promised more attacks on the “Pakistani army and its collaborators” and said its goal is to “lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22